SEO

Keyword Mapping. A Practical Guide for the Curious

Published

1 month ago

February 9, 2023

Keyword Mapping. A Practical Guide for the Curious

Deciding whether a keyword should be targeted by a separate page or clustered with other keywords is a common problem in SEO. Keyword mapping is a process aimed at solving this.

Keyword mapping is popularly defined as assigning keywords to pages. But what you really need to solve the problem is assigning topics to content types.

In this article, I’ll explain the benefits of this approach and, more importantly, I’ll show you the process. No templates required.

Fact 1. Google may see seemingly different keywords as the same topic.

For example, we rank for these keywords in the top 10 with a single page:

“seo basics”
“how to use seo”
“beginner’s guide to seo”
“getting started with seo”
“seo knowledge”

Fact 2. Conversely, Google may see seemingly similar keywords as different topics.

For example, let’s compare “digital marketing” with “online marketing.” I’d say those two keywords are pretty close to each other. Google disagrees.

Low SERP similarity score signals potentially different topics — Everywhere you look, the same story. Top-ranking pages and our SERP similarity score (100-point scale; the more, the higher similarity) say that these are completely different topics SEO-wise.

The above two facts are also reasons why keyword mapping by just relying on keywords is not the optimal way. You won’t know whether you’re wasting your time targeting the same topic with different keywords or just “confusing” Google.

But why content types instead of pages or even URLs? Because before you decide what page will be used to target the keyword, you’ll need to identify the search intent of the keyword. And a good starting point for that is identifying the dominating type of content on the first page of Google.

To sum up, the benefits of keyword mapping using topics and content types are:

Seeing keywords the same way Google sees them: as topics and subtopics.
Incorporating search intent into the process.
Keeping an organized list of topics, which also helps to prevent duplicating content.

Note

Keyword mapping can’t substitute keyword research. While keyword mapping is basically a form of organizing keywords, keyword research provides you the keywords and the confidence that:

Your keywords have traffic potential.
You can match the search intent behind your keywords.
Your keywords will bring valuable traffic.
You can rank for those keywords.

Learn how to choose the right keywords with our full guide.

Going further, we’ll look at two levels of using this method: the fast lane and the more thorough one.

Learn more: What Is Semantic Search? How It Impacts SEO

You’ll need a keyword research tool that can do keyword grouping based on what’s on the SERP, such as Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer. In the case of this tool:

Enter your keywords
Open Matching terms report
Go to the Parent topics tab

Three steps to find Parent Topics via Keywords Explorer

If you click on a Parent Topic, you will find separate topics “distilled” from your keywords. So for example, you will see keywords like “can babies get covid” and “babies and covid” grouped under the same topic.

Keywords grouped under the same Parent Topic

Sidenote.

To identify the Parent Topic, we take the #1 ranking page for your keyword and find the keyword responsible for sending the most traffic to that page.

At this level of keyword mapping, your target keyword is the Parent Topic (not the keywords inside that Parent Topic).

The next step is to identify the content type. The easiest way to do this is to see what kind of content dominates the first three to five results in Google.

Typical content types are:

Articles
Videos
Product pages
Product category pages
Landing pages

Top-ranking pages with a dominating content type — For example, the dominating content type for “teething symptoms” is the article.

As a result, assigning topics to content types will give you a super simple yet highly actionable database.

Topic	Content type
Teething symptoms	Article
When do babies roll over	Article
Baby formula	Mixed (product pages on top)
When can babies have water	Article

Sidenote.

What about secondary keywords or supporting keywords? We recommend picking them in the content creation phase as subtopics needed to cover a topic in full. Learn a few ways you can find them here.

So this is the fast method. The great thing about it is that it automates keyword grouping by using real SERP data (and not just semantics).

However, it has its downsides too. Sometimes, it “hides” less popular topics that could potentially be targeted with a separate page. Here’s why.

The parent keyword is derived from the top-ranking page on the SERP. If Google thinks that the best answer to the query is found on a page that is targeting a broader topic, it will still use it. This may result in a confusing SERP like this one:

Confusing SERP example — The top result is a featured snippet taken from a page with a broader topic. Hence, the Parent Topic (here seen as “Top keyword”) in Ahrefs. But pretty much every other page on the SERP targets the keywords directly.

This kind of situation probably won’t happen too often. But if you want to squeeze everything out of your keyword mapping process, you need to go to level 2.

In level 2, we’re going to take a closer look at the Parent Topics to see what’s in them.

First, you should pick a Parent Topic.
Sort keywords inside the topic by KD (Keyword Difficulty). Big differences in KD will be an indication of a different set of pages on the SERP.
If you see a keyword with a significantly different KD than the Parent Topic, click on the SERP button.
See if the top-ranking pages, excluding the first result, talk about the keyword instead of the Parent Topic. You can use the Compare with feature for a quick overview of the situation. The lower the SERP similarity score, the higher the probability you’re looking at two different topics.

Let’s look at a couple of examples.

In the first example, we’ve got a keyword with a KD score that’s 20 higher than the Parent Topic. Upon investigating, we see that we may be dealing with two separate topics: The SERP similarity is quite low. Also, there is only one common result, while other pages target the keyword directly.

Keywords grouped under the same topic but have dissimilar SERPs

Next example. Here we have “teething symptoms” (KD 65) and “when do babies get molars” (KD 28). Looking at SERP similarity, we see that this, again, may be a case of two topics.

Low SERP similarity between two keywords

But there’s more. Only the bottom results target the keyword directly. Others talk about teething timelines, stages, charts, etc. This is a hint for yet another way to rank for the keyword.

Only bottom results target the keyword directly

Generally speaking, when you see that you’re dealing with a separate topic “in disguise,” the decision comes down to:

Targeting the Parent Topic anyway. For example, if the top result is a featured snippet, you may be able to win it with a page on a relevant broader topic.
Marking the keyword as a separate topic and targeting it directly with a separate page. In this case, add that keyword as a topic to target and note down the content type.
Turning to SERP analysis in tougher cases (like our example above).

Final thoughts

Feel free to customize the process and add your own data points. If you feel like going a step further and assigning URLs, your website folders, or introducing some kind of prioritization (e.g., business potential), this won’t hurt.

However, keep in mind that keyword mapping is not a good way to design your entire website structure. Most often than not, not all pages on your site should be search-based.

What are the next steps after keyword mapping?

Got comments or questions? Ping me on Twitter or Mastodon.

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Related Topics:Curious Guide Keyword Mapping Practical seo

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SEO

How Do You Clean Up Content Without Effecting Rankings?

Published

7 hours ago

March 24, 2023

EntirewebNewsBot

How Do You Clean Up Content Without Effecting Rankings?

Today’s Ask An SEO question comes from Neethu, who asks:

My website is almost 20 years old. There are lots of content. Many of them are not performing well. How do you effectively clean up those content without effecting rankings?

Contrary to what some SEO pros tell you, more content is not always better.

Deciding what content to keep, which content to modify, and which content to throw away is an important consideration, as content is the backbone of any website and is essential for driving traffic, engagement, and conversions.

However, not all content is created equal, and outdated, irrelevant, or underperforming content can hinder a website’s success.

Run A Content Audit

To effectively clean up your website’s content, the first step is to conduct a content audit.

This involves analyzing your site’s content and assessing its performance, relevance, and quality.

You can use various metrics such as traffic, bounce rate, and engagement to identify which pages are performing well and which ones are not.

Once you have identified the pages that are not performing well, it’s important to prioritize them based on their importance to your website.

Pages that are not driving traffic or conversions may need to be prioritized over pages that are not performing well but are still important for your site’s overall goals.

Distinguish Evergreen Vs. Time-Sensitive Content

Additionally, it’s important to consider whether a page is evergreen or time-sensitive.

You can update or repurpose evergreen content over time, while you may need to remove time-sensitive content.

After prioritizing your content, you can decide what action to take with each page.

For pages that are still relevant but not performing well, you may be able to update them with fresh information to improve their performance.

For pages that are outdated or no longer relevant, it may be best to remove them altogether.

When removing content, implement 301 redirects to relevant pages to ensure that any backlinks pointing to the old page are not lost.

Monitor Your Stuff

It’s important to monitor your search engine rankings after cleaning up your content to ensure your changes do not negatively impact your SEO.

But don’t just look at rankings.

Content optimization projects can affect traffic, conversions, navigation, and other items that impact your overall search engine optimization efforts.

Watch Google Analytics closely. If there are traffic declines, you may need to re-evaluate a few changes.

It’s important not to have a knee-jerk reaction, however.

Before you throw out your optimization efforts, be sure that the changes you made are actually what is causing a drop – and make sure those changes are stable within the search engines index.

Remember that it may take some time for your rankings to stabilize after a content cleanup, so it’s important to be patient and monitor your website’s performance over time.

To further optimize your content cleanup, consider using Google Search Console to identify pages with high impressions but low click-through rates.

These pages may benefit from content updates or optimization to improve their performance.

Additionally, consolidating pages that cover similar topics into one comprehensive page can improve user experience and help avoid keyword cannibalization.

In Summary

Cleaning up your website’s content is crucial for maintaining a high-quality site.

By conducting a content audit, prioritizing your content, and deciding whether to keep, update, or remove the content, you can effectively clean up your site without negatively impacting your rankings.

Remember to monitor your rankings and be patient as your site adjust.

More Resources:

Featured Image: Song_about_summer/Shutterstock

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SEO

Optimize Your SEO Strategy For Maximum ROI With These 5 Tips

Published

14 hours ago

March 24, 2023

EntirewebNewsBot

Optimize Your SEO Strategy For Maximum ROI With These 5 Tips

Wondering what improvements can you make to boost organic search results and increase ROI?

If you want to be successful in SEO, even after large Google algorithm updates, be sure to:

Keep the SEO fundamentals at the forefront of your strategy.
Prioritize your SEO efforts for the most rewarding outcomes.
Focus on uncovering and prioritizing commercial opportunities if you’re in ecommerce.
Dive into seasonal trends and how to plan for them.
Get tip 5 and all of the step-by-step how-tos by joining our upcoming webinar.

We’ll share five actionable ways you can discover the most impactful opportunities for your business and achieve maximum ROI.

You’ll learn how to:

Identify seasonal trends and plan for them.
Report on and optimize your online share of voice.
Maximize SERP feature opportunities, most notably Popular Products.

Join Jon Earnshaw, Chief Product Evangelist and Co-Founder of Pi Datametrics, and Sophie Moule, Head of Product and Marketing at Pi Datametrics, as they walk you through ways to drastically improve the ROI of your SEO strategy.

In this live session, we’ll uncover innovative ways you can step up your search strategy and outperform your competitors.

Ready to start maximizing your results and growing your business?

Can’t attend the live webinar? We’ve got you covered. Register anyway and you’ll get access to a recording, after the event.

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SEO

TikTok’s US Future Uncertain: CEO Faces Congress

Published

21 hours ago

March 24, 2023

EntirewebNewsBot

TikTok's US Future Uncertain: CEO Faces Congress

During a five-hour congressional hearing, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced intense scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers about the social media platform’s connections to its Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

Legislators from both sides demanded clear answers on whether TikTok spies on Americans for China.

The U.S. government has been pushing for the divestiture of TikTok and has even threatened to ban the app in the United States.

Chew found himself in a difficult position, attempting to portray TikTok as an independent company not influenced by China.

However, lawmakers remained skeptical, citing China’s opposition to the sale of TikTok as evidence of the country’s influence over the company.

The hearing was marked by a rare display of bipartisan unity, with the tone harsher than in previous congressional hearings featuring American social media executives.

The Future of TikTok In The US

With the U.S. and China at odds over TikTok’s sale, the app faces two possible outcomes in the United States.

Either TikTok gets banned, or it revisits negotiations for a technical fix to data security concerns.

Lindsay Gorman, head of technology and geopolitics at the German Marshall Fund, said, “The future of TikTok in the U.S. is definitely dimmer and more uncertain today than it was yesterday.”

TikTok has proposed measures to protect U.S. user data, but no security agreement has been reached.

Addressing Concerns About Societal Impact

Lawmakers at the hearing raised concerns about TikTok’s impact on young Americans, accusing the platform of invading privacy and harming mental health.

According to the Pew Research Center, the app is used by 67% of U.S. teenagers.

Critics argue that the app is too addictive and its algorithm can expose teens to dangerous or lethal situations.

Chew pointed to new screen time limits and content guidelines to address these concerns, but lawmakers remained unconvinced.

In Summary

The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s hearing on TikTok addressed concerns common to all social media platforms, like spreading harmful content and collecting massive user data.

Most committee members were critical of TikTok, but many avoided the typical grandstanding seen in high-profile hearings.

The hearing aimed to make a case for regulating social media and protecting children rather than focusing on the national security threat posed by the app’s connection to China.

If anything emerges from this hearing, it could be related to those regulations.

The hearing also allowed Congress to convince Americans that TikTok is a national security threat that warrants a ban.

This concern arises from the potential for the Chinese government to access the data of TikTok’s 150 million U.S. users or manipulate its recommendation algorithms to spread propaganda or disinformation.

However, limited public evidence supports these claims, making banning the app seem extreme and potentially unnecessary.

As events progress, staying informed is crucial as the outcome could impact the digital marketing landscape.

Featured Image: Rokas Tenys/Shutterstock

Full replay of congressional hearing available on YouTube.

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